Clinical and non-clinical predictors of vocational recovery for Australians with psychotic disorders

Clinical and non-clinical predictors of vocational recovery were examined among 782 Australians diagnosed with DSM III R psychotic disorders, using data from the study on low-prevalence disorders, part of the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, Australia 1997-1998. Of the six significant clinical predictors, self-reported course of illness emerged as a potentially practical predictor of vocational recovery. Five non-clinical variables, age, education and skills, marital status, premorbid work adjustment, and use of a vocational service in the previous year, also contributed to the prediction of vocational recovery. The implications of these findings for both rehabilitation professionals and researchers are discussed.

Risk factors for non-haemorrhagic stroke in patients with coronary heart disease and the effect of lipid-modifying therapy with pravastatin

Objective To determine the relative importance of recognised risk factors for non-haemorrhagic stroke, including serum cholesterol and the effect of cholesterol-lowering therapy, on the occurrence of non-haemorrhagic stroke in patients enrolled in the LIPID (Long-term Intervention with Pravastatin in Ischaemic Disease) study. Design The LIPID study was a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial of the efficacy on coronary heart disease mortality of pravastatin therapy over 6 years in 9014 patients with previous acute coronary syndromes and baseline total cholesterol of 4-7 mmol/l. Following identification of patients who had suffered non-haemorrhagic stroke, a pre-specified secondary end point, multivariate Cox regression was used to determine risk in the total population. Time-to-event analysis was used to determine the effect of pravastatin therapy on the rate of non-haemorrhagic stroke. Results There were 388 non-haemorrhagic strokes in 350 patients. Factors conferring risk of future non-haemorrhagic stroke were age, atrial fibrillation, prior stroke, diabetes, hypertension, systolic blood pressure, cigarette smoking, body mass index, male sex and creatinine clearance. Baseline lipids did not predict non-haemorrhagic stroke. Treatment with pravastatin reduced non-haemorrhagic stroke by 23% (P= 0.016) when considered alone, and 21% (P= 0.024) after adjustment for other risk factors. Conclusions The study confirmed the variety of risk factors for non-haemorrhagic stroke. From the risk predictors, a simple prognostic index was created for nonhaemorrhagic stroke to identify a group of patients at high risk. Treatment with pravastatin resulted in significant additional benefit after allowance for risk factors. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.

Ultrasonic specimen radiography for non-palpable breast lesions

A retrospective review of ultrasound guided breast excisional biopsies performed in a Surgical Unit of Princess Alexandra Hospital in 1998-99 was undertaken to assess the use of ultrasound specimen radiography. In this series a total of 55 localization biopsies were performed for impalpable lesions in 53 women. In 21 patients (38%), specimen ultrasound was used to confirm that the lesion in question had been excised, whereas for 34 lesions (62%), specimen X-ray was undertaken. In a total of six cases (10.9% overall) the radiographic abnormality was seen on ultrasound only. Real-time specimen sonography is a technique which is very appropriately utilized in conjunction with ultrasound guided excisions and can be easily performed either in the radiology department or the operative suite With minimal time delay. It could have particular application for lesions that are detected in younger women with dense breast parenchyma. The results of this review confirm specimen sonography to be a reliable technique. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Treatment of non-resectable hepatocellular carcinoma with autologous tumor-pulsed dendritic cells

Background: The response of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to therapy is often disappointing and new modalities of treatment are clearly needed. Active immunotherapy based on the injection of autologous dendritic cells (DC) co-cultured ex vivo with tumor antigens has been used in pilot studies in various malignancies such as melanoma and lymphoma with encouraging results. Methods: In the present paper, the preparation and exposure of patient DC to autologous HCC antigens and re-injection in an attempt to elicit antitumor immune responses are described. Results: Therapy was given to two patients, one with hepatitis C and one with hepatitis B, who had large, multiple HCC and for whom no other therapy was available. No significant side-effects were observed. The clinical course was unchanged in one patient, who died a few months later. The other patient, whose initial prognosis was considered poor, is still alive and well more than 3 years later with evidence of slowing of tumor growth based on organ imaging. Conclusions: It is concluded that HCC may be a malignancy worthy of DC trials and sufficient details in the present paper are given for the protocol to be copied or modified. (C) 2002 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

A new level of conotoxin diversity, a non-native disulfide bond connectivity in alpha-conotoxin AuIB reduces structural definition but increases biological activity

alpha-Conotoxin AuIB and a disulfide bond variant of AuIB have been synthesized to determine the role of disulfide bond connectivity on structure and activity. Both of these peptides contain the 15 amino acid sequence GCCSYPPCFATNPDC, with the globular (native) isomer having the disulfide connectivity Cys(2-8 and 3-15) and the ribbon isomer having the disulfide connectivity Cys(2-15 and 3-8). The solution structures of the peptides were determined by NAIR spectroscopy, and their ability to block the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on dissociated neurons of the rat parasympathetic ganglia was examined. The ribbon disulfide isomer, although having a less well defined structure, is surprisingly found to have approximately 10 times greater potency than the native peptide. To our knowledge this is the first demonstration of a non-native disulfide bond isomer of a conotoxin exhibiting greater biological activity than the native isomer.

pido, a non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon of the chicken repeat 1 family from the genome of the Oriental blood fluke, Schistosoma japonicum

A newly described non-long terminal repeat (non-LTR) retrotransposon element was isolated from the genome of the Oriental schistosome, Schistosoma japonicum. At least 1000 partial copies of the element, which was named pido, were dispersed throughout the genome of S. japonicum. As is usual with non-LTR retrotransposons, it is expected that many pido elements will be 5'-truncated. A consensus sequence of 3564 bp of the truncated pido element was assembled from several genomic fragments that contained pido-hybridizing sequences. The sequence encoded part of the first open reading frame (ORF), the entire second ORF and, at its 3'-terminus, a tandemly repetitive, A-rich (TA(6)TA(5)TA(8)) tail, The ORF1 of pido encoded a nucleic acid binding protein and ORF2 encoded a retroviral-like polyprotein that included apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (EN) and reverse transcriptase (RT) domains, in that order. Based on its sequence and structure, and phylogenetic analyses of both the RT and EN domains, pido belongs to the chicken repeat 1 (CR1)-like lineage of elements known from the chicken, turtle, puffer fish, mosquitoes and other taxa. pido shared equal similarity with CRI from chicken, an uncharacterized retrotransposon from Caenorhabditis elegans and SR1 (a non-LTR retrotransposon) from the related blood fluke Schistosoma mansoni; the level of similarity between pido and SR1 indicated that these two schistosome retrotransposons were related but not orthologous. The findings indicate that schistosomes have been colonized by at least two discrete CRI-like elements. Whereas pido did not appear to have a tight target site specificity, at least one copy of pido has inserted into the 3'-untranslated region of a protein-encoding gene (GeriBank AW736757) of as yet unknown identity. mRNA encoding the RT of pido was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in the egg, miracidium. and adult developmental stages of S. japonicum, indicating that the RT domain was transcribed and suggesting that pido was replicating actively and mobile within the S. japonicum genome. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Reverse transcriptase activity and untranslated region sharing of a new RTE-like, non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon from the human blood fluke, Schistosoma japonicum

A new RTE-like, non-long terminal repeat retrotransposon, termed SjR2, from the human blood fluke, Schistosoma japonicum, is described. SjR2 is similar to3.9 kb in length and is constituted of a single open reading frame encoding a polyprotein with apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease and reverse transcriptase domains. The open reading frame is bounded by 5'- and 3'-terininal untranslated regions and, at its 3-terminus, SjR2 bears a short (TGAC)(3) repeat. Phylogenetic analyses based on conserved domains of reverse transcriptase or endonuclease revealed that SjR2 belonged to the RTE clade of non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons. Further, SjR2 was homologous, but probably not orthologous, to SR2 front the African blood fluke, Schistosoma mansoni; this RTE-like family of non-long terminal repeat retrotransposons appears to have arisen before the divergence of the extant schistosome species. Hybridisation analyses indicated that similar to 10,000 copies of SjR2 were dispersed throughout the S. japonicum chromosomes, accounting for up to 14% of the nuclear genome. Messenger RNAs encoding the reverse transcriptase and endonuclease domains of SjR2 were detected in several developmental stages of the schistosome, indicating that the retrotransposon was actively replicating within the genome of the parasite. Exploration of the coding and non-coding regions of SjR2 revealed two notable characteristics. First, the recombinant reverse transcriptase domain of SjR2 expressed in insect cells primed reverse transcription of SjR2 mRNA in vitro. By contrast, recombinant SjR2-endonuclease did not appear to cleave schistosome or plasmid DNA. Second, the 5'-untranslated region of SjR2 was >80% identical to the 3-untranslated region of a schistosome heat shock protein-70 gene (hsp-70) in the antisense orientation, indicating that SjR2-like elements were probably inserted into the non-coding regions of ancestral S. japonicum HSP-70, probably after the species diverged from S. mansoni. (C) 2002 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Practices and attitudes to derivatives use in Australian commonwealth organisations

Little is known about risk management in the public sector This study reports on a survey of senior officers in Australian Commonwealth companies and statutory authorities concerning their practice and attitudes towards the use of derivative instruments for risk management. Using a variety of tests, the most important issue identified by respondents concerning the use of derivatives is for budgeting purposes. Of note, respondents rank commonly cited reasons advanced in the private sector such as reduced bankruptcy costs and taxation, as being relatively unimportant, which is consistent with arguments advanced in the paper The results also indicate that there are significant differences in the level of importance in some issues regarding derivatives use across public sector organisations, particularly those differentiated by a documented risk management plan. The study also documents for the first time the extent of derivatives use in the Australian public sector.

Innovation in Queensland firms: implications for the smart State

The challenges in the business environment are forcing Australian firms to be innovative in all their efforts to serve customers. Reflecting this need there have been several innovation policy statements both at Federal and State government level aimed at encouraging innovation in Australian industry. In particular, the innovation policy statement launched by the Queensland government in the year 2000 primarily intends building a Sman State through innovation. During the last few decades the Australian government policy on innovation has emphasized support for industry R&D. However industry stakeholders demand a more firm-focused policy of innovation. Government efforts in this direction have been hindered by a lack of a consistent body of knowledge on innovation at the firm level. In particular the Australian literature focusing on firm level antecedents of innovation is limited and fragmented. This study examines the role of learning capabilities in innovation and competitive advantage. Based on a survey of manufacturing firms in Queensland the study finds that both technological and non·technological innovations lead to competitive advantage. The findings contribute to the theory competitive advantage and firm level antecedents of innovation. Implications for firm level innovation strategies and behaviour are discussed. In addition, the findings have important implications for Queensland government's current initiatives to build a Smart State through innovation.

Archetype change in professional organizations: Survey evidence from large law firms

This paper examines the proposition that the traditional archetype of the professional partnership is said to have changed into a more 'business-like' entity, the managed professional business. It broadens the restricted case sample base on which much of the evidence has been adduced, by developing a survey questionnaire through which 197 large British law firms were sampled. Change, consistent with the notion of a more commercially oriented and consciously managed organization, is concentrated in the market-facing area of the firm but coexists with areas of continuity in the governance of the firm and its strategic management. The findings reveal a more managerial form of organization in which the core elements of the traditional form of professional organization have not been transformed. These results contest the assertion of either transformational or sedimented change found in other, case-based research and suggest that archetype change needs theoretically to be distinguished from the general phenomenon of greater managerialism within the professional service firm.